I've searched this forum the best I can but couldn't find anything. I'm looking into switching to raw but can't afford to do patties. How are you making your raw food? Any guidance to other websites with recepies would be appreciated.

RaceRngr

September 12th, 2009, 02:17 PM

Is there any reason I can't go to the grocery store, and buy a chicken to give to my dog?

List

September 12th, 2009, 09:45 PM

Is there any reason I can't go to the grocery store, and buy a chicken to give to my dog?

Yes and No. Chicken is a great meal for raw dogs and is a staple around my house. And when first starting raw it's good to stick with just chicken for a week or two. BUT, when feeding a raw diet you need to make sure you try to aim for 80% meat 10% organ (half of which should be liver and the other half other secreting organ) and 10% edible bone. You want to provide a good variety as well since a diet of just chicken is a little lacking.

I would suggest you join the rawfeeding and raw-lite yahoo groups. They have a ton of great info.

And this article is a good basic rawfeeding guide - http://www.projectmutt.com/index.php/nutrition/29-raw-feeding-101

luckypenny

September 12th, 2009, 11:51 PM

Is there any reason I can't go to the grocery store, and buy a chicken to give to my dog?

That's what I do. I buy whole grain fed and air chilled chickens, quarter them, and feed a piece to each of our dogs as a main daily meal. Each piece weighs approximately 1 1/2 lbs ie. 2-3% of our dogs' weights. I'll also feed half a liver, a heart, and half a giblet to each dog to ensure they're getting organ meat.

We also feed other sources of meat such as beef, rabbit, and whole sardines. Once in a blue moon, they get pork as well.

No need for recipes, and store bought prepared patties are a waste of $$ and you can never be sure of the quality of meat you're feeding imo.

TeriM

September 13th, 2009, 02:59 AM

I mostly feed pre-ground raw as it is easiest for my senior to digest but do pick up grocery store chicken etc when travelling for convenience. I don't buy the patties either but we are lucky that there are a few excellent local suppliers in my area as well as two stores dedicated to raw feeding locally. This is a link to an excellent thread on raw feeding that should answer lots of your questions.

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=27080

Phoebespeople

September 13th, 2009, 10:59 AM

We used to buy pre-made ground raw food from our local raw dog food store, but we have switched to grocery store meat counter meat now. Whole stewing chickens are a good staple, but we also get beef heart, turkey necks, whole duck, pork roasts, chicken liver. beef liver, beef kidney, lamb bones, sardines, mackerel, and whatever else is on sale or has a reduced by $#.00 sticker on it. Variety is the key to a balanced diet. Mix it up as much as you can. Ask the butcher if he can put aside some scraps for you. It doesn't hurt to ask. All the weird stuff like pork spleen and chicken feet are good for dogs as well, if it's on sale. First thing Sunday morning is a good time to shop because that is when they put the reduced by $#.00 stickers on everything that is about to go bad.
We just follow these rules:
80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ(1/2 of that liver).
No cooking, no grain, no salt. Puree veggies so they can digest them. Raw eggs with the shell, sardines/mackerel, wild salmon oil and kelp/alfalfa powder are good supplements. Variety is the key.
Always ask questions, RAW feeders love to help others, and let us know how things go!

RaceRngr

September 13th, 2009, 01:25 PM

I mostly feed pre-ground raw as it is easiest for my senior to digest but do pick up grocery store chicken etc when travelling for convenience. I don't buy the patties either but we are lucky that there are a few excellent local suppliers in my area as well as two stores dedicated to raw feeding locally. This is a link to an excellent thread on raw feeding that should answer lots of your questions.

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=27080

That's a great thread that I am on page 3 of. I also found this link (in that thread) http://www.rawfeddogs.net/ that helped to put me at ease a little of feeding raw for the first time. I think I'm going to try chicken leg quarters today. I read alot about giving chicken leg quarters, but never any mention of chicken thighs, any reason?

RaceRngr

September 14th, 2009, 12:18 PM

Well I gave him a leg quarter and a wing yesterday with no kibble and he ate it and loved it. He actually wouldn't eat it until we pulled the skin off but I'm waiting for him to poop so I can see how he is really doing. Thanks for all the good advise everybody.

C&TMOM

October 26th, 2009, 10:29 PM

I do prey model style raw feeding, the first 2 weeks when i switch my dogs

to raw, i fed them chicken only since chicken meat and bone are softer and

easily to be digested than other meat. but u gotta remember that chicken

is the least balanced meat which doesnt have enough Essential Fatty Acids

for dogs. after 2 weeks, i added some other meat source into the chicken,

it took them about like 2 mths to get used different meat source.

right now i dont feed my dogs a lot of chicken, the most of meat they get are

lamb, goat, beef, veal, quail, rabbit, salmon, pork, turkey.

u dont have to buy those premade raw food, the meat from supermarket

works great.

when u switch, just do cold turkey switch and do 2-3% of your dog's ideal

weight. Make sure that you offer your dog 80% meat, 10-15% bones,

5% organ. it's ok to give more than one meat souce in one meal.

Here is a great link about the raw food recipes

http://www.rawfeddogs.net/

also yahoo raw feeding group is great too.

HTH

Angela

Melei'sMom

October 27th, 2009, 04:03 AM

That's a great thread that I am on page 3 of. I also found this link (in that thread) http://www.rawfeddogs.net/ that helped to put me at ease a little of feeding raw for the first time. I think I'm going to try chicken leg quarters today. I read alot about giving chicken leg quarters, but never any mention of chicken thighs, any reason?

not sure why it would not be mentioned, other then maybe the fact that most dogs need more then that. I have a small dog and a chicken thigh is the ideal size for her. when she has chicken, it is usually a thigh.

erykah1310

October 28th, 2009, 09:10 PM

Organ meat is a very important part to the raw diet, far too many people seem to leave it out. Make sure to add it in.